Daily Record: Rita Ora’s journey from Kosovo to Coutts

RITA Ora’s family fled war-torn Kosovo to London when she was a toddler and now she’s a chart-topping singer as well as a successful businesswoman.

BEING Rita Ora is exhausting. Over the last 12 months she has clocked up 130,000 air miles zooming from TV show to photoshoot to recording session to red-carpet event.

She averages less than five hours of sleep a night and her friends say she regards anything more as a waste of her valuable time.

It’s an attitude that owes a lot to her family’s background in the war-torn Balkans. They fled Kosovo for London when Rita was aged one. Their early years were those of refugees struggling to survive in a new culture.

Fast-forward to 2015 and the young singer has a personal fortune that could soon top £100million and an exclusive new account with the Queen’s private bankers, Coutts & Co.

Right now she’s known to most of us as a judge on BBC talent show The Voice. But Rita has so many strands to her career that she could end up as one of the wealthiest stars this country has ever produced.

Last night was the final of The Voice, and since she took over in the judge’s chair from Kylie Minogue last September, Rita has been the unquestioned star of the show.

Though none of her own acts were running last night, the show’s ratings took an upturn when she joined, even overtaking the once-unassailable Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway.

Last week The Voice pulled in 6.3million viewers, 400,000 more than this time last year and 400,000 more than the Geordie duo.

That’s mainly down to the Rita effect. Fans have praised her wit, warmth and determination to avoid a cliche, while besotted BBC execs have already asked her back for the next series.

After last night’s show she’ll be dusting off her passport and flying to Los Angeles to start work on the next project. She has made that round-trip seven times in the last 12 months and is probably on first-name terms with most of the British Airways cabin crew by now.

One close friend said: “People often assume it’s all red carpets and glamour, but actually Rita works bloody hard. Her work ethic is second to none and five hours’ sleep is more than enough for her. Often she survives on less.